FROM PREDATOR TO PREY: THE EDIFICATION OF STIGMA MANAGEMENT IN THE SMALL-DOLLAR LOAN INDUSTRY

In this dissertation, I focus on how entrepreneurs in a stigmatized industry – the Small-Dollar, or “Payday” Loan industry – manage industry stigma and evaluate the extent to which they employ strategies to mitigate this stigma. This dissertation is an ethnographic, participatory observation study, where I engage with lenders as a customer, borrowing and paying back loans from different small-dollar establishments. I find that, in response to being subject to multiple elements of stigma, industry representatives, entrepreneurs, and employees used a variety of strategies, in part, based on the policies initiated against their industry that resulted in different strategies employed to reduce industry stigma. My findings also focus attention on the cross-level nature of stigma management in organizational research, and its enactment between organizations and its effects on a key audience, customers, who also experience the industry’s stigma. The combination of these findings expands theoretical understanding of entrepreneurship in highly contested and uncertain domains, by integrating research from the stigma literature to offer a nuanced perspective of the process and outcomes of industry stigma

Risky Behaviours Among Young People Living with HIV Attending Care and Treatment Clinics in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania: Implications for Prevention with a Positive Approach.

Introduction: Prevention with a positive approach has been advocated as one of the main strategies to reduce new instances of HIV infection. Risky sexual behaviours among people living with HIV/AIDS are the cornerstone for this approach. Understanding the extent to which infected individuals practice risky behaviours is fundamental in designing appropriate population-specific interventions. With the HIV infection transmission rates remaining high among young people in sub-Saharan Africa, continued prevention among them remains a priority. This study therefore seeks to describe the magnitude and determinants of risky sexual behaviours among young people living with HIV. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted between June and July 2010 in selected Care and Treatment Clinics (CTCs) in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. A total of 282 HIV-positive patients aged 15-24 were interviewed about their sexual behaviours using a questionnaire. Results: Prevalence of unprotected sex was 40.0% among young males and 37.5% among young females (p<0.001). Multiple sexual partnerships were reported by 10.6% of males and 15.9% of females (p<0.005). More than 50% of the participants did not know about the HIV status of their sexual partners. A large proportion of participants had minimal knowledge of transmission (46.7% males vs. 60.4% females) and prevention (65.3% males vs. 73.4% females) of sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Independent predictors of condom use included non-use of alcohol [adjusted odds ratio (AOR), 0.40 95% confidence interval (CI); 0.17-0.84] and younger age (15-19 years) (AOR, 2.76, 95% CI: 1.05-7.27). Being on antiretroviral therapy (AOR, 0.38, 95% CI: 0.17-0.85) and not knowing partners' HIV sero-status (AOR, 2.62, 95% CI: 1.14-5.10) predicted the practice of multiple sexual partnership. Conclusions: Unprotected sex and multiple sexual partnerships were prevalent among young people living with HIV. Less knowledge on STI and lack of HIV disclosure increased the vulnerability and risk for HIV transmission among young people. Specific intervention measures addressing alcohol consumption, risky sexual behaviours, and STI transmission and prevention knowledge should be integrated in the routine HIV/AIDS care and treatment offered to this age group

Agitation requirements for complete drawdown of floating solids in stirred tanks

The agitation requirements for complete drawdown of floating solids in mechanically agitated tank vessels has been studied both theoretically and experimentally. A semi-theoretical equation has been derived on the basis of Kolmogoroff\u27s theory of isotropic turbulence to determine the minimum impeller speed required for drawdown. The equation contains one adjustable parameter which has been found to be a function of the impeller type and position in the tank vessel. The equation was tested using various vessels and impeller configurations. The solid phase consisted of high density polyethylene (density = 897kg/m3), low density polyethylene (density = 840kg/m3) and cork material (density = 510kg/m3) with particle sizes ranging from 300µm to 2200µm. The liquid phase consisted of water and aqueous solutions of zinc chloride in different concentrations so that the liquid density could be varied in the range 996kg/m3-1180kg/m3. The effect of impeller position and pumping direction has been extensivelly examined, as well as the use of non-conventional baffling systems to facilitate the drawdown of floating particles into the liquid. It was concluded that impeller clearance and pumping direction have a considerable influence over the minimum drawdown speed and its corresponding power consumption. A partial baffling system consisting of four half baffles has been found to have the lowest power requirements. Noticeable similarities exist between settling solids suspensions and floating solids drawdown, particularly for floating particles which, at rest, are almost completely immersed in the liquid. For cases different from this, the suspension of floating solids becomes a three phase system with entrapped air playing a significant role in particle drawdown. The proposed model works well within the experimental range covered (i.e. small density difference ( \u3c 340kg/m3) and medium particle size (300 - 2500µm)) and can be used to predict the performance of floating solid-liquid systems

Incidence and Predictors of Adolescent's Early Sexual Debut After three Decades of HIV Interventions in Tanzania: A time to Debut Analysis.

To determine the incidence and predictors of adolescent's early sexual debut after three decades of HIV interventions in Tanzania. In a cross-section study of adolescents aged 16-19 residing in Morogoro Municipality, information on socio-demographic, parental-and-peer communication, and sexual behaviors were collected. Cox-regression analysis was used to examine predictors of time to sexual debut. A total of 316 adolescents with mean age of 17.5±0.9 were recruited. Half (48.7%) of adolescent were sexually active with mean age at sexual debut of 14.6±2.3. Of these, 57.8% had sex before their 15(th) birthday with incidence of early sexual debut of 17.4/1000 person-years at risk. Adolescent family characteristics, peer pressure, alcohol use, parental and peer communication were key predictors of early sexual debut. Parental and peer communication strategies works calling for efforts to increase its scope to reach all adolescents alongside promoting family stability and reducing adolescent alcohol consumption

“@ Whoever is Listening”: How Organizations and Its Members Perceive and Use Social Media During Critical Events in the Workplace

More and more, social media is becoming an integrated component of individuals’ lives. With this, social media is impacting various landscapes that we interact in such as the workplace. Though social media is continuously being integrated into the workplace, scholarship pertaining to the relationship between social media and the workplace is still in its infancy. Yet, even with this lack of empirically supported knowledge, organizations and its members are still utilizing social media for various purposes. For instance, organizations use social media for recruitment purposes, to manage its image and to communicate to its internal and external members. One space that organizations use social media to communicate about includes critical events. My dissertation homes in on organizational use of social media during critical events to explore how this impacts the workplace. Specifically, my dissertation investigates if members find organizational use of social media (typically of an informal nature) as an appropriate platform to convey messages about critical events (typically more serious and formal in nature). Next, I explore if organizations can communicate too much or too little about critical events via social media. Moreover, I hypothesize that there will be a difference between perceptions of message amount and quality based on a member’s rank within the organization. Lastly, I wanted to dive into the individual level to see if and how members used social media to, in turn, cope or regain power during these critical events. Additionally, I extend Standpoint Theory into the organizational context which is, to my knowledge, one of the first studies to do so. To examine these questions and proposed statements, I use mixed methods in which I integrate findings from interviews and surveys to determine unique findings. In Chapter 5, I provide the outcome of my study and conclude the dissertation with recommendations for future studies and some closing remarks

Potential Biological Control Agents for Soilborne Fungal Pathogens in Tennessee Snap Bean Farms

Fungi isolated from snap bean roots and rhizosphere soil where fungicides are not used included Fusarium oxysporum, Fusarium equiseti, Fusarium subglutinans, Fusarium camptoceras, Fusarium chlamydosporum, Fusarium verticillioides, Fusarium proliferatum, Fusarium acuminatum, Fusarium solani, Peyronellaea pinodella, Macrophomina phaseolina, and Glomerella guttata. Only P. pinodella, M. phaseolina, and F. oxysporum were isolated on symptomatic plants. These soilborne fungi are common pathogens of diverse host plants. Pathogenicity tests under controlled environment demonstrated that these fungi were pathogenic on snap beans. Subsequently, bacterial endophytes isolated from snap bean roots, papaya roots and stems, and dogwood stems were evaluated as potential biological control agents against these diverse fungi. All bacteria isolated, including Bacillus vallismortis (PS), Bacillus amyloliquefaciens (Psl), Bacillus subtilis (Prt), Bacillus thuringiensis (Y and IMC8), Enterobacter sp. (E), Stenotrophomonas sp. (B17A), and Serratia sp. (B17B) suppressed growth of the fungal pathogens in vitro and formed clear inhibition zones in petri dish dual cultures. Growth media taken from the inhibition zones suppressed growth of the fungal pathogens in the absence of the bacterial cells, suggesting that the bacteria released unidentified antagonistic biochemical substances into the media. This study constitutes an initial screening of endophytes as biological control agents against diverse fungal pathogens and forms a basis for the discovery of novel strains that can be further developed and integrated into disease management systems for diverse fungal pathogens. Isolates B. vallismortis (PS), B. amyloliquefaciens (Psl), B. subtilis (Prt), and B. thuringiensis (Y IMC8) exhibited the best performance as potential biological control agents paving the way for larger-scale in vivo studies and characterization of their interactions with fungal pathogens

Prevalence and predictors of institutional delivery among pregnant mothers in Biharamulo district, Tanzania: a cross-sectional study

Introduction: Giving birth in a health facility is associated with lower maternal mortality than giving birth at home. A recent Tanzania Demographic Health survey showed that, although more than 90% of pregnant women attended at least one antenatal clinic visit, only 50% of pregnant women delivered at a health facility. The aim of this study was to document the magnitude and predictors of institutional delivery in order to assist in setting priorities and developing appropriate intervention measures to reduce maternal mortality. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study of women in Biharamulo district who delivered during the year preceding the survey. Multistage sampling was used to obtain598 participants. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data. Bivariate and multivariate analysis was performed. Results: 56% of women delivered in a health facility. Factors most strongly associated with institutional delivery were past care experience (aOR=265.1, 95%CI 28.6- 2466.7), advice from health care provider to deliver at a health care facility (aOR=29.2, 95%CI 2.9-291.5), decision making on health care seekingon a pregnancy (aOR=7.1, 95%CI 2.7-19.0), maternal education (aOR=6.7, 95%CI 2.3-20.0), first antenatal care visit at Conclusion: The prevalence of institutional delivery in Biharamulo District remains low. To raise the prevalence, the district should implement measures to make institutional delivery the preferred option for pregnant women. These measures should include encouraging women to make early antenatal care visits and make plans with their spouses for institutional delivery, reducing costs, improving the experience for women undergoing delivering in a healthcare facility, and consider locating new facilities closer to the women who need them.Keywords: Institution delivery, home delivery, antenatal care service

Data on plant defense enzyme activity associated with three endophytes against Cornus florida Erysiphe pulchra powdery mildew

Three bacteria endophytes that colonize flowering dogwood (Cornus florida) suppressed Erysiphe pulchra powdery mildew disease severity. The three bacteria identified as Stenotrophomonas sp. (B17A), Serratia marcescens (B17B), and Bacillus thuringiensis (IMC8) were assessed for plant defense enzymes associated with plant protection. Detached leaves inoculated with powdery mildew were spray treated with the selected bacterial isolates and incubated for 15 h, 26 h, 48 h and 72 h and then analyzed for activation of defense enzymes and Pathogenesis related (PR) proteins associated with induced systemic resistance (ISR) as a potential mode of action against powdery mildew. At each time point post treatment with the bacteria, leaf tissue was ground in liquid nitrogen and stored at -70°C for biochemical assay of enzyme activity. This data set presents the activation of enzyme activity for peroxidase (PO), polyphenol oxidase (PPO) and β -1,3-glucanase at 15 h, 26 h, 48 h and 72 h post treatment with bacteria as indicated by a change in absorbance min -1 mg-1 per gram fresh weight of leaves. The gene expression of the corresponding pathogenesis related (PR) protein for each bacterial treatment compared to the control was also analyzed using Real time PCR and five primers targeting PR1, PR2, and PR5. While changes for PO, PPO, and β -1,3-glucanase enzyme activities were observed at different time points post treatment with all three bacteria, expression of PR protein was detected for PR1, but it was negligible for PR2, and PR5

Performance of improved bean varieties in Kasulu and Kibondo districts of Kigoma Region, Tanzania

A project aimed at improving bean production in Kigoma Region was carried out from 2008/09 to 2010/11 in Kasulu and Kibondo districts. Soils at trial sites varied from sandy clay loams to clay, mostly acidic with pH water varying from 4.5 to 6.3 (mean 5.5 „b 0.5) with low to medium (1.86% „b 0.57%) organic carbon (OC), low (0.15 „b 0.05) total nitrogen (N), and low to medium (5.27 „b 5.4 mg/kg) available phosphorus (P). Five improved cultivars, Jesca, Lyamungo 90, Selian 97, Uyole Njano and Uyole 98 were evaluated for yield in farmers¡¦ fields, and assessed for farmer acceptability through a questionnaire. The varieties were compared to Kigoma Yellow, a local variety known also as Mburamutwe. The experimental design was Randomized Complete Block with farmers as replicates. Plot size was 10 m by 10 m and spacing was 50 cm by 20 cm. Yield data were analyzed using MS X-Cel and GenStat Discovery edition. Farmers¡¦ assessment data were analyzed by SPSS (V 11.5). There were positive significant (p&lt;0.05) correlations between bean yields of the varieties Jesca, Lyamungo 90, and Selian 97 and soil exchangeable potassium (K), and positive significant (p&lt;0.05) correlations between Kigoma yellow and soil available P and between Selian 97 and soil total nitrogen in the first season. In Kasulu, average yields were less than those obtained in Kibondo and ranged from 495 „b 169 kgha-1 for Jesca to 874 „b 583 kgha-1 for Uyole 98, compared to the range of 673 „b 283 kgha-1 for Jesca to 1602 „b 333 kgha-1 for Uyole Njano in Kibondo district. The results showed that Uyole Njano and Uyole 98 gave significantly (p&lt;0.05) higher yields than all the other varieties. Farmers¡¦ assessed uncooked beans for seed size, shape, color, marketability and over all preference. Assessment of cooked beans considered taste, smell, soup appearance, soup color and consistence. This assessment ranked Kigoma yellow and Uyole Njano as number one and two, respectively for both uncooked and cooked beans. Lyamungo 90 and Uyole 98 ranked third and fourth, respectively for uncooked beans. There were no differences in costs of production between the different bean varieties. Economic analysis (Table 3) showed that Uyole Njano produced the highest yield value per unit cost of production followed by Uyole 98. Introduction of Uyole Njano and Uyole 98 bean varieties for production in the two districts is recommended.Key words: Bean varieties, yields, farmers¡¦ assessmen

Analysis of Powdery Mildew-resistant Dogwood Accessions Using AFLP

Twenty-five dogwood accessions (one Cornus kousa, three C. kousa × C. florida hybrids, and 21 C. florida) were characterized using amplified fragment length polymorphism. Among the C. florida accessions, four were named cultivars and 17 were selections from Tennessee State University\u27s dogwood breeding program. Amplified fragment length polymorphism band profiles obtained from 13 EcoRI/MseI (+3/+3) primer pairs showed the presence of high genetic diversity between species and within the C. florida accessions. Each accession was distinctly different from each other, and the resistant clones clustered into distinct groups